Business Operations Associate

About the role

Rainmaker is pioneering a modern cloud seeding system to address water scarcity and inclement weather challenges worldwide. We develop and integrate radar validation, weather-resistant UAS, numerical weather modeling, and sustainable seeding agents into an effective precipitation enhancement solution. The Business Operations Associate will own the orchestration of our most critical cross-functional workflows, ensuring that ambitious scientific and engineering programs are translated into clear, executable plans. You will act as the connective tissue between departments, aligning engineering, science, production, and commercial teams around shared operational objectives. This role requires a generalist mindset, as you will solve problems that span data systems, resource planning, and strategic execution without a predefined playbook. You will build the foundational structures that allow Rainmaker to scale its operations as we move from research validation toward commercial deployment. If you thrive in environments where ambiguity is the norm and your work directly determines the pace of the mission, this is the opportunity to lead programs that have a real impact on global water resources.

Key facts

What you'll do

Support company planning by tracking priorities, goals, headcount, budgets, milestones, and organizational capacity to ensure alignment with strategic objectives.

Drive strategic initiatives that require coordination across engineering, science, production, field operations, commercial, finance, and people teams to remove blockers and accelerate execution.

Translate company growth plans into operational requirements across staffing, facilities, systems, infrastructure, and production capacity to future-proof our scaling needs.

Build and improve company-wide processes, workflows, reporting systems, and information pathways to create a single source of truth for decision-makers.

Produce clear, decision-ready analysis for leadership on performance, resources, risks, and operational tradeoffs using data to guide high-stakes choices.

Support business reviews, quarterly planning, leadership meetings, and other elements of Rainmaker's operating cadence to maintain rigorous oversight of progress.

Take ownership of high-priority special projects that do not yet have a permanent functional home, serving as the default executor for mission-critical initiatives.

Own the definition and tracking of key operational metrics, establishing baselines and benchmarks that enable continuous improvement across functions.

Champion the integration of new tools and methodologies, assessing their applicability to current workflows and driving adoption where they create measurable value.

Synthesize complex operational data into narratives that clarify root causes, forecast implications, and present actionable recommendations to diverse stakeholders.

Maintain a detailed understanding of project statuses across the business, surfacing dependencies and resource constraints before they become critical issues.

Collaborate with finance and commercial teams to model the operational implications of strategic decisions, ensuring feasibility and cost-effectiveness.

Develop scenario plans for operational risks, outlining mitigation strategies and contingency steps to maintain resilience during disruptions.

Serve as the operational lead for cross-functional working groups, structuring discussions and capturing outcomes to drive accountable follow-through.

Requirements

You are comfortable solving complex, ambiguous, and cross-functional problems that span technical, scientific, and commercial domains.

You combine structured thinking and analytical rigor with a willingness to execute tactical tasks necessary to keep strategic initiatives on track.

You are highly organized, detail-oriented, and capable of managing multiple workstreams with competing deadlines without sacrificing quality.

You communicate clearly and can drive accountability through written and verbal communication without relying on formal authority or hierarchical influence.

You demonstrate high ownership, sound judgment, intellectual humility, and a strong bias toward action even when information is incomplete or evolving.

You have 2+ years of experience in business operations, strategic finance, consulting, investing, a high-growth technology company, or another demanding operating environment that has tested your resilience.

You are proficient in tools commonly used for modeling, analysis, and workflow management, enabling you to derive insights and communicate results effectively.

You possess a collaborative mindset, actively seeking input from diverse stakeholders and building trust through consistent, reliable execution.